Hammerdin
A Hammerdin is a Paladin build involving the maxed-out use of the Blessed Hammer skill. This build is favored due to the extraordinary damage of the Blessed Hammer, coupled with its synergies, Vigor and Blessed Aim. Concentration Aura also adds damage. It is the most played character build in Diablo II, as Hammerdins dealing 20,000 damage per hammer are not uncommon. However, it is one of the most expensive builds to successfully create, as there are so many Hammerdins out there. A Hammerdin will use his Enigma Rune Word to teleport next to large mobs of enemy, and then hit them with multiple hammers. Many saw this build as being overpowered, and so 1.13 attempted to balance this by removing Blessed Hammer's Demon and Undead immunity bypassing. However, this only slowed Hammerdin Baal runs a little, as people later realized that Holy Bolt can still damage the undead, magic immune or not, and so Achmel the Cursed's boss pack did not prove to be as big a problem as was initially thought. Skills A 'basic' Hammerdin setup looks like this: * 20 points to Blessed Hammer * 20 points to Vigor * 20 points to Blessed Aim * 20 points to Concentration * 20 points to Holy Shield With high end gear a hammerdin ends up having +20 combat skills; an alternate version is to put only 1 pt into Holy Shield and instead put the skill points into either Fire Resist or Lightning Resist to up the max resist cap from 75. Stats * Enough Strength to use gear. * Enough Dexterity to reach max (75%) block.* * The rest into Vitality. * None to Energy. None points should be put in Dexterity if Holy Shield is skilled up high because this will increase the blockrate easily to the maximum of 75%. An alternative version is to keep the base 25 strength and use a 15% ed bp (Enhanced Defense Breast Plate) and either a torch (or annihilus) placing the stat points into vitality instead. It has fallen out of favor in 1.13 with the ability to reset stat points. Items for expansion * Armor: Enigma Rune Word, in an Archon Plate, Dusk Shroud or Mage Plate (preferable for low strength requirement). * Helm: Harlequin Crest Shako, preferably inserted with Um Rune or Perfect Topaz. * Belt: Arachnid Mesh Spiderweb Sash. * Rings: 2x Stone of Jordan or Bul-Kathos' Wedding Band rings or a mix of the two. Rare rings with faster cast rate or Raven Frost can also be used here * Amulet: Mara's Kaleidoscope Amulet or Faster Cast Rate+Paladin Skills+All Resistance Amulet. * Gloves: Magefist or Chance Guards gloves. * Boots: Ethereal Sandstorm Trek Scarabshell Boots, War Traveler boots or Waterwalk for Max Fire Resist 5%+more Life. * Charms: Hellfire Torch, Annihilus and combat skillers. Maximizing damage setup * Weapon: Heart of the Oak Rune Word in a Flail. * Shield: Herald of Zakarum, preferably upgraded and inserted with Um,Ber,or Shael Rune, or Zod Rune if ethereal. 125% faster cast rate setup * Weapon: or Heart of the Oak Rune Word (this requires a Fast cast rate ring) * Shield: Spirit Rune Word with 35% faster cast rate, made in elite paladin shield with all resistance attribute. You must use Magefist or Trang-Oul's Claws to reach 125% Faster Cast Rate. Items for non-expansion It's hard to find a perfect Equipment in non-expansion but the preferred (or perfect) Equipment for a Hammerdin in non-expansion looks like this. *'Armor:' A rare Mage-Plate with high resistance, +Life and enchanted defense. *'Helm:' A rare Grim Helm with high resistance, +Life and echanted defense. *'Belt:' A rare one with high resistance and +Life. Good to have a 4 slot Belt. Perfect if they have +Strength too so you are able to put more point in Vita. *'Rings:' Both Rings should have +10% faster cast and high resistance. Perfect if they have +Strength too so you are able to put more point in Vita. *'Amulet:' The Amulet should have +10% faster cast, +2 to Paladin skills and prismatic. Perfect if they have +Strength too so you are able to put more point in Vita. *'Gloves:' Magefist *'Boots:' Any Rare Boots with high resistance. Good to have Faster Run too. *'Shield:' A Rare Grim Shield with high enchanted defense, prismatic (+20 to all resistance) and faster block rate. Faster Hit recovery on the Armor, Helm, Boots or Shield could be realy helpful too. Maximizing damage *'Weapon:' A Scepter with +2 to Paladin skills, +3 Conzentration and +3 Blessedhammer 100% faster cast *'Weapon:' Spectral shard Magic find A Hammerdin is useful for MF (Magic-find) runs and to run a party through all difficulties, due to its huge damage output. Use Gheed's Fortune, 7% better chance of getting magic items small charms and War Traveler boots to increase your chances of getting magic items. You may insert Ist into Wizardspike as well. Mercenary A well equipped Act 2 Defensive Mercenary from Nightmare difficulty will help, by distracting the enemy and slowing them down with its Holy Freeze aura. Popular equipment for hammerdin's act 2 mercenary is Fortitude Rune Word in ethereal armor, Insight Rune Word in ethereal Colossus Voulge and ethereal Andariel's Visage inserted with Ral rune. Another alternative Mecrcenary is the Act One Rogue, using the runeword ICE in a High Damage Elite Bow such as a Shadow, Colossus or Diamond. Then Boosting Her attack speed with Andariel's Visage socketed with a Ral rune, and the Runeword Treachary for armor. This setup is more commonly used for Chaos Party Leveling Due To Oblivion Knights casting Iron Maiden. However the 1.13 patch removed this skill from The Knight's ablilities, encouraging the use of Act 2 Mercs once more.